Tears in the Veil: Wandering with the Dead
by Bloodyredshade
Summary: Lone Wanderer, Leader, Explorer, Destroyer of Mutants and Enclave...and Marriage counselor. When his world is destroyed by nuclear fire once more, he leaves, using a device left by a loved one. Armed with advance technology, sharpened skills, deadly experience, and nothing left to lose he will walk the worlds trying to find a home.
1. History

Onto Bloodier Pastures

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything.

Author's Note: Sup guys! This idea has been floating around in my head and I think I will use this to create multiple crossovers. Let's see where this one goes.

"Talking"

_Thoughts/ Flashbacks_

**Computer**

* * *

2077- The Great War destroys modern civilization.

July 13, 2258- The birth of Kimo Walker A.K.A The Lone Wanderer to one James and Catherine Walker.

April 14, 2274- At the tender age of 17 Kimo is given the profession Marriage Counselor after taking the G.O.A.T.

September 12, 2277- James leaves the Vault followed by his son.

October 23, 2277- Kimo makes contact with a distraught mother named Catherine near The Citadel. Taking pity on her plight he travels on a boat to Point Lookout in the hopes of finding Nadine.

November 13, 2277- Kimo returns with Nadine on the river boat without Tobar the Captain. There is no information on what transpired in Point Lookout but local residents would always have a sense of foreboding when approaching the now christened Lone Wanderer.

December 26, 2277- The Lone Wanderer continues to search for his father north of the Capital Wasteland. He is not seen in a year.

December 21, 2278- The Lone Wanderer is seen once more in the Capital Wasteland. Clad in torn armor, half starved, and sporting a new rifle with a silencer, he walked out of a closed off tunnel. The caravan that picked him up would later spread word of the new scars on the Lone Wanders back. Every few inches seemed knotted with thin lines like barbed wire.

January 3, 2278- The Lone Wanderer continues to do good around the Wasteland while searching for his father. Around this time he meets up with a group of outcasts and helps them with technology from the old world. Afterwards most of the group fell to infighting however, Specialist Olin and Protector McGraw survive to return to their faction.

February 29, 2278- The Lone Wanderer once again disappears. No activity happens for three months. Many citizens fear he has finally died during his travels.

June 7, 2278- The Lone Wanderer returns to the Wasteland. Reports and eye witness accounts have described a series of blue lines under his skin. Most describe the lines like pieces to a puzzle. These strange lines however, disappear in a three weeks.

July 1, 2278- The Lone Wanderer has finally found a solid lead on his father after clearing out the Jefferson Memorial A.K.A Project Purity.

July 3, 2278- After finding his father the Lone Wanderer returns to Project Purity to help him finish his mother and father's life work. What happened next is reported by the few surviving scientist since The Lone Wanderer refused questioning. The Enclave, a remnant of the old America, stormed Project Purity and claimed the project for their own. Later on The Lone Wanderer would request training from the Brotherhood of Steel which they would provide. He proved to be the best fighter, shooter, and technological savvy "savage" they ever met and had proven to be more than a match for even the most experienced veterans of the Brotherhood of Steel.

August 1, 2278- The Lone Wanderer completes any training the Brotherhood can offer. With permission he uses the Brotherhoods archives to find the location of a G.E.C.K. With the location in hand he traveled to Vault 87. There is no information on the Lone Wanderer for the next two weeks.

August 15, 2278- With a massive explosion that could be seen from Rivet City the Lone Wanderer returns with an unlikely ally. It is at this time the Lone Wanderer receives a radio signal from Vault 101. He leaves for three days and returns saying the situation was solved in the best way possible.

September 11, 2278- With Liberty Prime leading the charge the Brotherhood of Steel takes back the Purifier and defeat Colonel Autumn.

September 26, 2278- The Lone Wanderer spearheads an attack on the Mobile Crawler and destroys it with orbital bombardment thus ending the Enclave threat to the Capital Wasteland and ensuring the relative safety for the inhabitants of the Capital Wasteland.

October 11, 2278- The Capital Wastelands settlements unite and host the first election since the Great War of 2077. The newly name President Kimo Walker led the people into a new age of prosperity, using fascinating new technology the origins of which was never discovered.

October 23, 2278- President Kimo marries Sarah Lyons. The new nation celebrates at the union.

January 2, 2279- The fledgling nation encounters The Legion. Ambassadors are sent and peaceful negotiations were progressing until the unexpected assassination of President Kimo's wife and unborn child. This sparked outrage and the might of the entire military arm of the newly equipped Brotherhood of Steel fell on Legion territory. This conflict would be known as the Sarah Lyons War.

October 29, 2280- A new power is introduced to the wasteland led under the banner of Lord Ashur from The Pitt. Instead of a two pronged war which most of the inhabitants of the Capital Wasteland expected, Lord Ashur willingly rejoins the Brotherhood of Steel, bringing along the industrial might of The Pitt and the medical benefits, including the cure synthesized from his daughters immunity to the Trog Virus.

December 20, 2283- After years of intense fighting the Capital Wasteland had conquered the entire East Coast, parts of Mexico, and all the land that used to be America up to an ancient dam bordering New Vegas. During this time Cesar had been killed, and the rest of the Legion was scattered to the winds if not outright destroyed. Upon seeing the encroaching military of the Capital Wasteland the leader of New Vegas called The Courier sent an envoy to greet the new arrivals.

March 5, 2285- After years of shaky truces and treaties, New Vegas and the Capital Wasteland finally merge and become simply known as the Brotherhood.

April 1, 2285- The New California Republic launches a major offensive against the newly established nation. This attack proves useless against the technological and numerical superiority of the Brotherhood. This attack leads to the Four Day War.

April 5, 2285- After vicious fighting the N.C.R is forced to surrender and absorbed into the Brotherhood. The average citizen of the N.C.R welcomes the new government and hope for the same level of prosperity that the Brotherhood has experienced over the years. This marks the first time in 200 years that the land that used to be America became united into a single nation. The government is presided over by three seats, one for each territory, the Capital, New Vegas, and the N.C.R.

May 4, 2285- The Courier A.K.A Lora Kane and the Lone Wanderer A.K.A Kimo Walker marry and both decide to retire.

May 25, 2285- The Courier and the Lone Wanderer both officially hand over their seats to their replacements. As the Lone Wanderer left his office for the last time he was recorded saying "Not bad for a Marriage Counselor."

September 17, 2300- Expeditionary forces around the globe report that there are survivors and various nations. What was left of the Europe became the Europa Alliance. China, Japan, Thailand, and India have become the Sun on Yee. Africa and the Middle Eastern Countries has become the Raider Republic, and Mexico with South America has become the Catholic Kingdom.

January 5, 2301- Despite urging by the Brotherhood the various nations resist cooperating with each other. Tensions rise throughout the world.

January 21, 2301- The End of Everything…

*******Pip-Boy 3001 System Name Kara-Start Up Sequence Initiated*******

**Initializing…Initializing…Initializing…Complete.**

**D.N.A Accepted.**

**User Name: Kimo Walker**

**Strength- 10**

**Perception- 10**

**Endurance- 10**

**Charisma- 10**

**Intelligence- 10**

**Agility- 10**

**Luck- 10**

**Operator status: Alive. **

**Known Perks: Lady Killer, Daddy's Boy, Gun Nut, Little Leaguer, Thief, Swift Learner, Child at Heart, Comprehension, Entomologist, Scoundrel, Lead Belly, Toughness, Gunslinger, Commando, Rad Resistance, Strong Back, Mister Sandman, Night Person, Cannibal, Life Giver, Robotics Expert, Sniper, Silent Running, Law Bringer, Cyborg, Light Step, Master Trader, Adamantium Skeleton, Grim Reaper's Sprint, Explorer, Hematophage, Power Armor Training, Ant Sight, Rad Regeneration, Survival Expert, Puppies!, No Weaknesses, Warmonger, Nerves of Steel, Almost Perfect, Intense Training, Nuclear Anomaly, Covert Ops, Auto Axpert, Ghoul Ecology, Exnotech Expert, Booster Shot, Pitt Fighter, Punga Power!, Jury Rigger, Superior Defender.**

**Skills:**

**Barter: 100**

**Big Guns: 95**

**Energy Weapons: 100**

**Explosives: 85**

**Lock Pick: 100**

**Medicine: 90**

**Melee Weapons: 100**

**Repair: 100**

**Science: 100**

**Small Guns: 100**

**Sneak: 100**

**Speech: 100**

**Unarmed: 100**

A rusty set of power armor sat against the wall. The armor was covered in dents the size of different caliber bullets, burns and a few rough metal plates welded crudely onto multiple places on the armor. The helmet seemed the cleanest however; the most damaged. Cracked, with half the rivets missing, the only thing keeping the abused steel together was the visor which was in poor condition anyway. Half the visor featured cracks along the bullet proof glass and a single bullet hole and shattered glass covered the rest. If it wasn't for the steady movement of the chest piece one might mistake the occupant to be dead. Slowly the servos grinded and an armored arm tore the metal helmet off revealing a face full of misleading youth. Brown eyes, one lighter than the other, sparkled in the dim light radiating from the consoles surrounding him.

"Those fuckers really did it." The young man snarled and covered his eye with gloved hands, memories and words flashed by in a haze.

_This senate is no longer run by you!_

_We cannot let ourselves fall like this Not again! Not by the very people who we placed to lead us!_

_Run for the vaults._

_We'll never make it. _

_You can my friend. _

_Babe._

_You can save them._

_Lora..._

_Go._

The young man stared at his gloved hand remembering the feeling of warm skin against his not so long ago.

**Attention Operator Kimo Walker. New mission objective attained.**

With a grunt of effort the man known as Kimo Walker stood up and began unbuckling his now useless armor. He swallowed his pain. There was no time for that. He failed. He lost the world. He accepted it, and he moved on just like he always had.

"Kara, what is the new mission?" I wince slightly as each metal plate hits the ground with a sharp clang.

**Sir, under direct orders from Lora Kane, the new mission is to activate the device she has spent the last few years working on. **

"Device? You mean the atom splitter?" I asked as I removed the final part of my power armor leaving me in nothing but the interface suit.

**Correct. Professor Kane was able to the complete the atom splitter; however, during her work she discovered the atom splitter was capable of opening doors or as she called them "Tears".**

"Tears huh? And supposedly what do these tears lead too?" I carefully began to peel the interface suit and within a few seconds managed to slip out of it. I had forgotten how great the air feels on my skin.

**According to Professor Kane some doors lead to nowhere. Others lead to alternative worlds. Some stranger than others, and some just like our own. Professor Kane, your wife, saw that the events that destroyed the world would happen again. She knew that you would never leave if there was something holding you here and in her condition she knew she would never survive the journey to another world. So, she developed a plan to ensure your future survival. **

"She always knew me better than I knew myself." A twinge of pain scratches against the inside of my chest but I quickly shut it down and locked it away but I still felt myself lean against the wall.

**Are you alright sir? **

"I'm fine. Now did my wife have a specific "Tear" in mind?" I pushed myself off the wall and flipped through my Pip-Boy for my custom attire.

**She did indeed, she designated it Universe 101. **

I couldn't contain a small chuckle as Kara gave me the name. Lora…you sneaky bitch, I grabbed the ring hanging from a chain around my neck and lightly traced the etching in the metal.

Suddenly a flashing light appeared in my peripheral.

**The path is this way. **

"Yes ma'am." I looked down and finally select my attire and suddenly a small pocket in space opened.

I reached inside and pulled out a mottled gray metal suit and helmet.

**Codex Entry: Titan Armor**

**Titan Armor is the epitome of armored technology. Unlike its older siblings the T-51b, T-45d, and other various models both Pre-War and Post-War power armor, Titan Armor is created solely by technology fueled by the "Mothership Zeta" incident. With the use of the lightweight material called "Meld", and powered by "Elerium", Titan Armor is extremely light, weighing approximately 25 pounds and contains a mini-elerium generator in a small compartment attached to the back of the suit. The suit automatically adjusts to the individual's body and once comfortable hardens into solid metal plating while still allowing full flexibility, and maneuverability all the while giving someone full body protection. The durability of the Meld material outclasses any material on Earth. It has been trial tested against fire, poison, bites, blades, bullets and plasma. **

With efficiency I donned the armor and closed the helmet with a small hiss. Instantly the helmet activated and the HUD turned on allowing me to see my environment. I quickly began jogging down the pathway and following the lights. I let my mind drift into nothing like I used to do when I traveled the Wasteland in my youth. Eventually the lights led to a double door entranced.

**The doors are keyed to both Professor Kane and yourself. Just press your hands on the doors and the biosensors will unlock the room for you. **

Following Kara's instructions I put both hands on the doors and pushed them open reveling a Spartan interior with a machine the height of an average male and a generator.

"What do I do now?"

**Simply activate the generator, and the Tear will open. The instructions are already preprogrammed in however; once you enter you will never be able to return.**

"Are you saying I'll be stuck wherever I land forever?"

**Sorry I was unclear. Once you activate the generator, a panel on the side of the Atom Splitter will open and inside is an upgrade module for your pip-boy. Once attached it will use the pip-boys own elerium generator to create new Tears. You may travel from world to world whenever you like. However, it was designed to never allow you to travel back to this world. Professor Kane thought it would be for the best. **

I took a deep breath and with a nod I walked over to the generator and flipped it on. With a quick whir the elerium generator kicked on and the machine crackled with energy before becoming one black mass.

**I believe this is where we say good bye sir. **

"Kara? What do you mean by that?" I couldn't help but let fear creep into my voice as I began to realize that the only living remnant of my past is about to leave me.

**My system will guide the Tear and send you to your proper location. However, upon completion the base will explode destroying any evidence of Lora Kane's research and any products of her research. **

"I…understand. Good bye Kara." I quickly grabbed the small module and walked into the black mass.

**Good bye Lone Wanderer.**

A lot can happen in a second. A knife can fit in between the fifth and fourth rib, a bullet can rip through a body, a sword can cut off an arm, an A.I can re-live every second of her life and a nuclear explosion can destroy any evidence of a city called New Vegas.

* * *

**Alright so that's the new chapter that leads to multiple crossovers. I'm hoping that this will**

**exciting for you the readers and for me. It's going to be fun.**


	2. Trying Times

Trying Times

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

I'm excited about this story. I hope you all enjoy reading this.

"Talking"

_Thoughts_

Wherever I thought the Atom Splitter would send me I never thought it would be in a pitch dark room surrounded by ghouls. The only light came from my pip-boy and even the dim light could illuminate the feral ghouls. Each one carried horrific wounds ranging from missing limbs to bites. I was grateful that the **Titan Armor** was a full body set. I could only imagine the smell of the unkempt bodies and the dried and drying fluids all over the walls and floors. I noticed none of the ghouls seemed to notice me instead each just stood still. Quickly I accessed my pip-boy through my HUD in my helmet and selected one of my personal favorite weapons. Once more a space opened in midair and I pulled out a souvenir from my time in the Pitt. With the **Perforator **in my hands, the space closed and disappeared once more. I took a step forward comforted by the weapon in my hands only to hear a sharp snap as my foot touched the ground. I looked down to see the shattered remains of a beaker. Suddenly I felt something latch onto my right arm and saw a child sized ghoul try to bite into my suit. Quickly I yanked my right arm out of the ghouls mouth and fired a round into its skull sending the body into the wall next to me. I looked up to see a room full of ghouls staring at me. As one they advance and their rasping breathing sent adrenaline through my body. Unseen to them I smiled behind my helmet.

"Bring it bitches." I pulled my **Perforator **into firing position and fingered the trigger.

_One…Two…Three_

*****Pov Change*****

"That vase…that's something special. 'fess up. You steal it from your Grandma Jean's house? Heh. I hope you left her that spoon collection. Hehehe." The soft chuckle was interrupted by a series of coughs that racked the patient's body.

"Shane? Shane you in the john?" The patient noticed the now dead and dried out flowers at his bed side table and reached out and felt the dry petals crackle under his weak touch.

After thinking for a second he looked at the clock and noticed the hour hand was stuck at two, the minute hand was stuck at seventeen and the second hand was at thirty-two. Fear finally struck his body and he feebly peeled off the various tubes from his body. With a grunt of effort he pulled himself up and grabbed weakly at the I.V stand before pulling himself up only to have his legs collapse from beneath him.

"Nurse! Help! Nurse! Help!" He waited for a few minutes until he was sure help wasn't coming before summoned the strength to stand and hobble to the bathroom door.

Quickly he pushed it open and paused. The man staring back at him was rough. A patchy beard was growing and the gaunt look of someone who had not seen a meal in days or weeks stared back at him. He quickly noticed his midsection was wrapped tightly with gauze that needed a quick change if the smell was any indication. He looked at the sink and suddenly a thirst he had never known before filled him. He clawed at the faucet handle grateful that water flowed quickly out of the spigot. He reached out to the water and allowed the water to pool before gulping greedily down the now dwindling flow of water. With his thirst satisfied the urge to see investigate took him and he gingerly walked to the door getting more used to walking with each step. Cautiously he pulled the door open and paused once more taking in the sight of a gurney blocking the way. With a weak push he made enough room to walk into the hallway only to discover nothing. In all the time he was in the hospital there was never a quiet moment. There was always a nurse or two in the hallway, monitors beeping, patients dying, a cry of pain, something but there was only nothing. He noticed that most of the lights still worked although a few flickered or were destroyed. Papers were strewn all over the place. As quickly as he could he shambled down the hall, his bare feet slapped softly on the linoleum floor. He reached a dark nurses station in a time that seemed to span forever. He grabbed the phone and held it up to his ear only to grimace as he heard nothing. He rumbled through the counter top to find something of use. His fingers lightly grazed over a packet of matches. He picked it up and tore a match off before lighting it. With the new source of light he tried to find anything else. He cursed silently as he found nothing and blew out the match. He looked up and saw a sign that said South Wing Recovery Ward. With nothing else to do he walked to the end of the hall to investigate the flickering light. He came up to the double doors only to freeze as he saw a mangled body clearly dead for a long period of time. Its flesh looked peeled to the bone. He stared at the body for a time that seemed to echo in eternity when suddenly a soft clink was heard. With all the agility he was capable of he spun around and held his arms in a boxing position only to be faced with a darkened hallway and nothing in sight. Half a second later he heard another clink and then after that every second the sound would repeat. A steady clinking noise filled the air and slowly the man cautiously walked forward. He got to halfway down the hallway before he saw small flashes of light between the cracks of a chain locked double door that said "DON'T OPEN. DEAD INSIDE". The lights finally turned on all the way and he gasped as he saw bullet holes in the walls and blood on the floor. Suddenly a quickly as the noise and flashes appeared they suddenly stopped.

"No." He reached out weakly for the doors before with a crash they were kicked open and nearly thrown off their hinges.

Immediately a rotting smell hit his nose and almost sent him into unconsciousness. He quickly grabbed a spare roll of gauze on a nearby chair and buried his nose in it. He turned back just in time to see a figure in a mottled gray metallic suit at a height of about five feet walk into the sunlight. Immediately the stranger raised an assault rifle with a silencer attached at him.

"Freeze Local. Who are you?" A synthesized voice rang from the figure.

The man raised one hand above his head but kept the other pressed against the gauze covering his mouth.

"Don't shoot! I'm Rick Grimes. A police officer. Put your gun away and we can talk." The man now identified as Rick Grimes slowly lowered his hand and clutched his side.

The unidentified stranger in front of him in turn lowered his gun and walked over. Rick winced as the metal hit the linoleum roughly and even though the armored figure was barely up to his shoulders he made for an intimidating sight.

"What happened to you?" Still the synthesized voice blocked Rick from the operator's body but he was grateful the stranger hadn't shot him yet.

"Gun shot. I remember getting hit…I don't know when." Finally the pain from his wound kicked in and Rick felt his knees wobble a bit before he fell down on the floor grasping at his side.

"Gunshot huh? Here this will fix you right up." Before Rick could comment the figure stabbed a syringe into his side directly into the wound and depressed the plunger and like that the combined agony of his previous actions and the needle he passed out. The last thing he felt was cold hard hands grab him.

*****POV Change*****

"Weakling. He's never going to survive if he can't take this." With a sigh I grabbed the man named Rick Grimes and swung him over my shoulder, I stabilized Rick with one hand and kept my **Perforator** in my other hand.

Looking around I saw an exit sign that pointed me to a pair of elevators. I pushed the down button the muzzle of my rifle before realizing how civilized I had become. I chuckled slightly as I made my way to the emergency staircase. I pushed open the door and automatically the light from my pip-boy illuminated the stair case. I carefully walked down ready to blast any more ghouls that would be occupying the area. I reached the bottom with no problem before opening the door to the outside. I scanned my environment for a second and took note of row upon row of bodies that lined the parking lot. Each one with a sheet of cloth or plastic wrapped with rope. I held my cargo over my shoulder a little more tightly in case I had to run and walked down a row of corpses that led to the exit of the parking lot. With a slight burst of speed I ran up a hill and came face to face with a Pre-War relic helicopter that preceded the Vertibird. Obsolete in any case and the rust on the propeller made the vehicle worthless. I looked around to see a few more stacked bodies in green sheeting, a few vehicles, supply tents and crates. With a sigh I lowered Rick into a seat of the helicopter before going over to the crates.

There were ten in all and I quickly opened each one to see what was inside. Three of the crates were filled with dry rations and MRE's. Two were filled with medical supplies, and the last four were filled with ammo and weapons respectively. Once more I own little pocket space in air and emptied each crate into the void. The "Mothership Zeta" incident was well worth getting injected with nanites, being torn apart, and put back together again only to be torn apart once more, having my skinned filleted off my body to have nanographs that increased my durability, and healing, having my body nearly boiled from the inside out as sharp needles penetrated my bones and filled me full of harsh liquid metal and then having to suffer particle weapon burns and beating a few super mutants to death with my bare hands, all to get their technology in which helped to create my own pocket dimension. The technology was initially started by the aliens. Their bodies highly unsuited for the task of fighting or lifting heavy objects for a prolonged period of time tried to develop something that would allow them to carry their own personal supply of robots for defense and workforce. They couldn't make it bigger than 4X4 but that was enough for me. No matter what went in as long as I had the proper interface to open, close and select, I could grab whatever I wanted from the void as if I took it out of a bag and most importantly it weighed absolutely nothing.

As soon as I finished throwing the last of the supplies into the void I heard a few moans. I turned around in time to see three ghouls walk out of the supply tents. I shut off the void and pulled my **Perforator **up and fired quickly three times. Each bullet found their mark and the bodies crumpled onto the ground. Suddenly I felt something hit the back of my head.

"Rick you better be playing and when I turn around I better see your finger." I turned around to and sighed.

Rick was staring at me in anger and his face was twisted in a snarl but most importantly he had a Marksman type assault rifle in his hands.

"You killed those innocent people." He bit out harshly.

"Not people. Ghouls." I bit out, the weapon could never penetrate my armor but I could barely keep my hands from wrapping around his neck and breaking it.

"Ghouls?! They were asking for help! You killed them in cold blood. They didn't deserve that." I could see thanks to my HUD that his finger was just about to pull the trigger.

Quickly I pushed the barrel up with one hand and palm thrust him in the chest as the gun went off.

"You stupid son of a bitch! I saved your life. Gave you a Stimpack to heal you up and you try to blow my fucking head off!" I turned the rifle on Rick and leveled it between his eyes.

"I was doing something right! You murderer." Rick stared defiantly and despite myself I saw a spark that I had seen so many times in my very own eyes and paused as I heard more moans from the supply tents.

"I'll show you what these people are." I ejected the clip and threw down the rifle. I opened a compartment on my thigh and a saturnite knife ejected into my hand.

I rushed at the two ghouls that appeared and I buried my knife into one of their eyes before savagely ripping it out and grabbing the other Ghoul by its neck. I pulled it over to where Rick was and held it out toward him. He pulled his body back against the helicopter as he saw the ghoul's appearance. Half his face had been ripped off and his body looked to be riddled with bullets.

"Could a normal person survive the abuse this thing has?" I took a step forward and the ghoul tried harder to reach Rick.

"Okay I get it. You made your point! Get this thing away from me." I nodded and thrust my knife into the back of the Ghoul's skull and let the body go.

"Now that we're on the same page how about we talk like civilized people." I reached down and pulled Rick onto his feet.

"What are these things?" Rick grabbed the discarded rifle and poked at the body.

"Ghouls, or at least I think they are. They're nothing like the ghouls back home. They look the same but even ghouls can bleed out or die from injures to their bodies. These things can handle a lot of abuse and most injuries from what I can see. But a shot or blunt force trauma to the head puts them out like a light. Which is a good thing; it's my policy to always aim for the head if you want something dead." I chuckled lightly and tossed Rick something I pulled from the void before I startled loading up the supplies I had found.

"Here this should protect you better than those hospital clothes and you can take off the gauze. The wound should be gone by now." I watched as Rick pulled off the gauze first and pressed against the reddish patch of skin the size of a quarter in his side.

"What did you give me?" Rick said as he shrugged off the robes and started pulling on the armor.

"That right there is the top of the line law enforcement riot gear armor available to I.R.F or Instant Response Forces. It's bullet proof, bite proof, flame retardant, slash proof and in case of harmful gases or hazardous environments it has a helmet that acts as a filtration device and night vision. It also has a radio you activate with a button right behind the ear. The ceramic plates will handle anything up to a 50. Caliber slug. " I pointed out each feature and handed the helmet to Rick.

"Holy shit! This is standard? Where the hell did you come from?" Rick placed the helmet on a catch on his waist.

"Of course it is. It isn't here?" I tilted my head slightly.

"No. The most we can get is some bullet proof vests." Rick finally got the last clasp on and looked around.

"Here." I handed him the Saturnite knife.

"Seriously? This thing looks like it would break with one unlucky swing." He grabbed the knife and felt the weight.

"Don't underestimate the Saturnite knife. That thing will cut through most material. It's more than enough to kill a few ghouls. Besides you couldn't handle any of the guns I have now, not in your state. Now what the hell are we going to do?" I watched as the gears seemed too turned in his head.

"I need to ask a favor. I need to find my wife and my son. I need to find out what happened to them. Can you help me? My house should only be a mile and a half away" Rick looked down the road before looking back at me with a desperate look on his face.

"I got nothing else to do. Why the hell not?" I grabbed his hand and shook it.

"Thank you so much. I can't pay you now but I owe you. I'll lead the way." Rick turned and began walking and I followed a few feet behind with my rifle ready.

*****40 minutes later and 15 Ghouls down*****

We finally stopped in front of a quaint house that I assume was Grimes place. I quickly placed a hand on Rick's shoulder and barely dodge a flying fist even though it wouldn't have hurt me any way.

"What the hell are you doing?! My families in there!" Rick almost swung again before I flicked him between the eyes.

"Shut the fuck up. We don't know who could be in there or what. Now do I have your attention?" I watched as Rick nodded.

"Good. Listen, I know you might not want to hear this but your family...might be one of the ghouls. I'll take care of them if they are, a man shouldn't have to put down his family. I'll let you know if it's clear." I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and walked to the door.

_A man shouldn't have to put down his family…always taking on the burden of others._

I stopped right at the door and double checked the magazine and smiled slightly at a full clip. I mentally counted to three and kicked open the door. My Perforator scanned the hallway and after a few seconds swept through the lower floor. I took notice of dusty outlines on the wall in the shape of picture frames. I went upstairs and began to check the rooms when all of a sudden a voice stopped me cold.

"Daddy! I got the sum bitch!" A teenager's voice rang out, and shortly afterward a gunshot rang out.

I looked for a quick exit and saw a window at the end of the second floor and began to run.

"You have to be more thorough son. You got to finish it before they get back up." The voice sounded panicked.

I finally reached the window and jumped through it. I grunted roughly as I hit the roof before falling onto the front lawn, my armor taking all the damage, before rolling into a kneeling firing position. In front of me I saw a boy with a shovel and a man with a .32 in his hand standing over Rick.

"Don't shoot!" The black man dropped his gun and both the man and boy raised their hands.

"Is he dead?" I nodded toward Rick.

"No just unconscious. My boy here mistook him for a walker. We're sorry mister. Nobody needs to die today." I watched as the man slowly began edging his way in front of the boy.

"Walker huh? I just called them ghouls." I lowered my rifle and walked over to Rick and the father and son.

I kneeled next to Rick and slowly let my scanners check his conditions. Besides the minor cut above his eyebrow he was fine.

"You got him good boy. Fuck he's going to need stitches. Do you have a safe place?" I quickly began to prep him to move.

"Yeah. We're holding up in the house a few doors over." The man picked up his gun and looked around.

"Lead the way." I pulled Rick onto my shoulders and gestured to them too walk.

*****Eight Hours Later*****

"What the fuck hit me?" I groaned as I moved my fingers across my temple.

"A ten year old boy with a shovel, kicked your ass pretty good. I can't believe you took off your helmet." I opened my eyes and saw a familiar gray helmet looking down at me.

"Fuck you." I tried to get up only to have a gloved hand push me down.

"You have a mild concussion and I just stitched up your head. Chill out." I felt some type of container into my hands and looked down to see an M.R.E.

"Spaghetti, courtesy of the U.S military and tax payers. Come join us in the living room when you can." With that he walked out of the room.

"Us? Who's us?" I contemplated the thought for a second before the smell of spaghetti reached my nose.

Suddenly my stomach knotted up and a hunger I had never known before worked through me. With as much haste as I could muster I began to shovel generic noodles and sauce into my mouth. Much to my disappointment it was gone faster than I would have liked. I placed the pack onto a corner table next to the bed and suddenly realized I could finally hear what sounded like three muffled voices coming from the hallway. Gingerly I swung my legs off the edge of the bed and found my way onto my feet. My head throbbed but I pushed through it and made my way into the hallway and stopped at the kitchen where a black man was holding a pot and what I assumed to be his son was sitting down at a table and across from the boy sat the armored figure on a metal chair that looked out of place.

"Hey Rick, take a seat before you fall down." The black man pulled out a chair for me and I sat down slowly trying not to fall over.

"Let me make the introductions. Rick this is Morgan Jones and his boy Duane. I've already given them yours while you were unconscious." The armored figure pressed a few buttons on his wrist and with a pressurized hiss I watched as he pulled his helmet off.

"You're young." I said dumbly as the helmet came away.

"Eh I only look that way because of my height." The boy rubbed his hand through a short cropped flat top.

He was right. He couldn't have been over five feet yet I felt I was dealing with a giant the entire day. As I looked closer I began to see rough details, and for a second his face reminded me of marble statues I had seen in travel magazines. Weather beaten and scarred, I noticed his skin held a surprisingly tanned complexion. Scars lined his face and each one promised a story of pain.

"Anyway, my name's Kimo Walker, but you can call me The Lone Wanderer or Wanderer for short." A cocky grin appeared on his face but the old cop in my saw his grin didn't reach his eyes.

"Why do you want to be called the Lone Wanderer?" Duane asked.

"It's just what people call me kid. Besides it's the name I'm used to in situations like these."

"How old are you?" I tried to keep the sympathy out of my voice.

"Doesn't matter, all that matters is Morgan here telling me how the whole world went to shit. Right Morgan?" I looked toward the father and son pair and noticed they too were stunned that the person inside the suit was just a young man.

"Yeah…I was just saying that no one knows where it came from. First we heard a few instances on the news about people biting people, a riot here and there but, before we knew what had happened the whole system shut down. Hospitals were overrun first, then the firefighters, and police, eventually the military tried to step in but by then it was too late between the walkers and the Great Panic they were shredded." Morgan's face got more sullen as the memories of the last few weeks went through his head.

"We managed to get here but, my wife got sick and we got stuck here. We were trying to get to Atlanta. The last we heard on the radio was that there was a call for a regroup at Atlanta and that they would take care of any survivors who made it there." Morgan finished and began to pour some soup into a few plastic bowls.

"Why go to Atlanta? If what you're saying is true then cities would have been the first place to go." I nodded and looked over to Kimo who had a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Well it was has commanding view on all sides of the city and if anything there's a C.D.C stationed there." Morgan passed out the bowls and we all took one gratefully.

"C.D.C?" Kimo questioned as he blew on his soup.

"Center for Disease Control? It's the place they use to make vaccines for viruses and to study diseases. How don't you know this?" Duane asked curiously.

"Heh. Well let's just say I'm not from around here." We all watched as he drank his soup in a few quick gulps and put his bowl down.

He sighed softly knowing that we wanted to know more about this strange anomaly sitting in front of us. With his gruff way of speech, and advanced armor, he was probably the best out of any of us equipped to deal in this world for the long term.

"You want to know, why I wear this armor, and why I look like this. I bet you also want to know where I'm from or if I was in the military under some secret covert op or something." He looked at each of us briefly before sighing.

"Yeah well if a heavily armored person in high tech power armor, and loaded to the teeth with weapons and ammo that come from a dimensional rift came into my life I'd like to know as much as I can about him too." He took in a deep breath but I couldn't stop the cop in me to ask.

"Dimensional rift? What the hell are you talking about?" I asked with annoyance.

"Ah I forgot I hadn't shown you. Duane and Morgan already saw here." With a few presses on his wrist a black shape took form next to his shoulder and I felt my jaw fall open.

He waited for me to process it before turning it off and placing his hands on the table.

"Are you ready for the craziest story of your lives?" I couldn't stop myself from grinning as their eyes widened.

**I know it's taken forever for me to put something up. Sorry about that. Life got in the way. Well I hope you guys liked the chapter. I'm thinking about putting a little bit of a time skip next time. Break past the boring parts and what not. Alright. Cool. **


	3. Bloody Details

Bloody Details

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Hello boys and girls and welcome to another exciting chapter. Hopefully you, my readers, have enjoyed the journey so far and are happy about the road I'm taking. With that in mind I hope you like the new chapter.

"Talking"

_Thoughts_

* * *

_In the wasteland purified water is, was, a luxury. By the time I had unified most of the east coast I had multiple purifiers like the one my father built, placed in strategic locations and pumping out millions of gallons of fresh clean water every day. Needless to say water became bountiful and the land began to come alive again and flourish. Most importantly, the best thing to ever come out of that, hot showers._

I gasped for air as I pulled my head out of the stream of hot water and wiped the remaining droplets away from my eyes. I had waited for the others to finish giving the excuse of checking the rest of the station for supplies and keeping an eye out for walkers. When they had finished and Rick, Duane, and Morgan went to the armory, I quickly took off my armor and shoved myself under a steady stream of water falling from the shower head. After shampooing and washing off my body I reluctantly turned the shower off and began toweling off. For the first time in what had seemed like an eternity I felt good. I felt my mind wander into my memories but, quickly forced it back into the present.

_They were in the past. She was in the past. She would understand._

I shook my head of the thought and began to walk to the locker where I had stored my armor only to stop in front of a full length mirror. No matter how many times I see myself in the mirror I can't believe I survived all those years in the wasteland. My flesh carried my past wherever I went and as I looked over my abused body I remembered how I received each wound. I traced thin scars over my body, reminders of blades rusty and clean that had found a temporary home in my body. I winced as I counted the small circles and jagged scars that dotted my flesh, bullets and shrapnel had not been my friends. I even had bites, mole rats, dogs, and even a large bite, curtesy of an Alpha Deathclaw, that looked like a giant bear trap and been set off on me.

I sighed as I stepped away from the mirror and donned my armor again just in time too as Grimes came in with a bag of weapons over his shoulder and looking every bit the cop he used to be.

"Time to go?" A pointless question to ask but he nodded in affirmation and I pulled my **Perforator **off the ground where I had leaned it against a locker.

"Lets go then." I followed him out of the station and met Morgan and Duane at the exit. They had already loaded up each car with an equal share of supplies.

"Conserve your ammo. It goes faster than you think. Especially during target practice." Rick stated but I could tell they had already been through this.

We all stared at each other awkwardly not sure how to say good bye.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Rick asked.

"Yeah. We'll leave in a couple of days. By then Duane will know how to shoot and I won't be so rusty." Morgan looked at a Jeep and then back at us.

Rick reached into his bag and pulled out an old radio and handed it over. "You have one battery. I'll turn mine on every few minutes at dawn if you get up there that's how you'll find me."

"You think ahead." Morgan chuckled and grabbed the radio before handing it to Duane.

"Can't afford not to." Rick grinned a bit before shaking hands with Morgan.

"The only advice I can give you now is that one or two of them might not be much but when they're in a pack riled up and hungry…watch your ass." Morgan stated and I figured it was my turn to say good bye.

"Good luck Morgan. Keep your son safe." We shook hands and nodded at each other but the silence was broken by a soft shuffling noise and as we turned we saw a walker coming toward us dressed in a ripped and bloody police uniform that looked similar to the one Rick had on.

"Leon Bassest?...I didn't think much of him. Careless and dumb but-I can't leave him like this." Rick shook his head to rid himself of any doubts as he strode over to the chain link fence that held Leon back.

"They'll hear the shot." I called out.

"Let's not be here when they show up." Rick replied over his shoulder as he raised his pistol and fired.

We watched as the walker formally known as Leon Bassest stiffen then fall down like a doll with its strings cut off.

"Let's go." I calmly walked to the police car and the others followed suit to their respective vehicles.

Morgan pulled out of the parking lot first and honked twice as he drove back into town and Rick set off the sirens twice in return. I didn't look back. After all they would be dead. Maybe not today or tomorrow but the survivalist, the veteran, the killer in me knew they wouldn't make it. I didn't tell Rick because I knew he wouldn't; he couldn't think that way. As we continued down an empty road going out of town Rick turned on the radio and began trying to communicate with anyone who might have a working radio.

"Wake me up when there's something to do." I gently leaned my head against the window mindful not to break the glass and closed my eyes.

"Hello can you hear my voice?"

*****10 Miles outside of Atlanta*****

"Hello can you hear my voice?" A group of startled people stared at the radio that had been up till now filling the camp with nothing but white noise.  
A young blonde, gathered her wits first and ran over to the radio. The blonde picked up the mic and depressed the trigger as she talked into it.

"Hey! Hello?!" She almost screamed into the mic.

"Can anyone hear my voice?" The male voice over the radio repeated.

"Yes, I can hear you. You're coming through, over." The blonde said barely keeping her voice below shouting level.

"Can anyone hear me? Please respond. Broadcasting on emergency channel. Will be approaching Atlanta on highway 85. If anybody reads please respond." The male voice said calmly.

Instantly a panic took over the camp and the blonde looked anxious as their fears grew.

"We're just outside the city!...Hello?! Hello?!" This time she screamed into the mic.

"Try hailing him again. Come on son you know best how to work this thing." Suggested an older man with a hunting rifle over his shoulder.

Suddenly an ax buried itself right next to the radio and a young male picked up the mic.

"Hello, hello. Is the person who called still on the air? This is Officer Shane Walsh broadcasting to person unknown. Please respond." After a few seconds he dropped the mic onto the tree stump the radio was on.

"He's gone." He said grimly.

"There are others. Not just us." A brunette this time stated.

"We knew there would be. It's why we left the C.B on." Shane said in a vindicated tone at which the brunette took offense.

"Lot of good its been doing." She retorted as she continued.

"I've been saying for a week we ought to be putting up signs on the highway warning people away from the city." She finished with a gesture.

"Folks have no idea what their getting into." The blonde spoke softly.

"We haven't had time." Shane said as he stood up as the brunette fixed a hard glare on him.

"I think we need to make time." She said as Shane rubbed his chin.

"That's a luxury we can't afford. We are surviving here. We are day to day." Shane defended.

"Who are we supposed to send?" The older man asked.

The brunette thought for a moment before pointing to herself.

"I'll go. Give me a vehicle."

"Nobody goes alone, everyone knows that." Shane replied with the ease that comes with saying something many times, finally the brunette sighed and backed down.

"Yes sir." She walked off and the group scattered once more to do their daily duties.

Shane quickly followed behind the brunette into her tent before confronting her once more.

"Listen, I'm not going to put you in danger. Okay? I'm not doing it for anything. Listening you feel like you need to slap me upside the head do it, I'm right here." Both looked at each other silently until Shane started talking again this time calmer.

"Look, you cannot just walk off like that. All halfcocked like you want to do it for my sake or your own. The boy has been through too much to lose his mother too. Okay?" Shane said as he took a step closer.

"Okay." The brunette whispered as they both looked down then back at each other.

The two chuckled as the tension left the room. They grabbed each other with familiarity and pressed their lips together. The moment seemed like it would grow into something else when a voice pierced the air.

"Mom?" A voice outside the tent asked tentively.

The two broke apart and Shane quickly opened the flap and stepped out.

"She's in there." Shane answered the boy and as he walked away the brunette leaned down eye leveled to her boy.

"I'm not going anywhere. Okay?" The boy smiled as he was reassured and hugged his mom.

*****50 Miles away from Atlanta*****

Ricked grabbed a photo from the visor above the driver's seat and smiled at it. It was a picture of him, his wife Lori, and his son Carl in happier times. He quickly folded the photo up and placed it into the fun bag as he stepped out of the car.

"I can't believe you didn't check on the gas before we left." I said as I worked out the kinks in my back.

"You go into a coma for a little while and see what you remember after you wake up." Rick threw the duffel bag over his shoulder and held out the gas can toward Wanderer.

"Hey can't you put this in your rift or something?" Rick jingled the gas can once more toward Wanderer.

"Yeah I could. But I'm not. If you don't get punished you'll never learn." I pushed the gas can with a single finger back toward Rick before turning around and started walking.

"Can't afford to think about the future my ass! Now come on." I yelled over my shoulder and Rick rushed to catch up.

The walk was pretty mundane and in no time the pair reached a farmhouse they had passed a mile back. As they came up the road they both watched as a lone horse grazed in its pen.

"You take care of the horse. I'll take the house. If we can't find gas here you'll need some form of transportation. You still haven't healed up enough for a walk to Atlanta." Rick accepted the explanation and sighed before he walked over to the pen and called out softly for the horse.

I turned and walked up the two steps of the porch, rifle ready in case the owners decided to try their luck. I looked through the window to see a classic case of murder suicide. Flies buzzed around the corpses in black masses. Without care I broke the window and slid my way over the window sill. Bodies will be bodies but you can never have enough food. I raided what food I could salvage from the kitchen and carelessly threw them into storage. Afterward I exited the house through the front door this time.

By this time Rick had already fed, watered and saddled the horse and watched as I walked over to him. The horse stamped its feet nervously as I came closer. The smell of death from its former masters clung to my armor but it would dissipate soon enough. "Nothing inside but a few cans of peaches and pancake mix. Ready to head out." I asked.

"Yeah. Are you sure you'll be able to keep up? I mean that armor has got to be hot as hell and heavy to be in." He asked nervously. Little did he know that this suit has a built in controlled temperature so I always stayed at a crisp 70 degrees and that the armor itself only weighed 20 pounds over my entire body which thanks to modern technology, at least to my world, made the weight almost negligible. Even if it hadn't my surgically enhanced body would have been more than enough to carry this armor and perhaps more than half the things I had in my portal which was saying something considering I had enough raw material to actually create my world's version of a medium sized robco factory. Needless to say I laughed over his concern.  
"Don't worry about me. I can run anything into the ground." With that in mind I began jogging to Atlanta . Rick surprised by my action took a few seconds to follow and urged the horse to follow the one that smelt like death.

••••••••10 hours later•••••••

"What! The! Fuck! Are! You! Made! Of!?" Rick shouted at me from atop his horse.

We had just reached the outskirts of the city and I calmly drank from a bottle of water. I was barely sweating and hardly out of breath. The horse however, was covered in sweat and its sides huffed and puffed graciously taking in air. The horses tongue lapped hungrily at the water that was in a bucket.

"Mutations, cybernetics, metal, and good old fashion D.N.A."I tapped my chest plate making a loud clanging noise before I finished the last of the water and put on my helmet.

Sure I could have drank the water from the storage unit of my suit but I felt this way would be more fun. I had run a lot farther and in hotter weather than this. We hadn't traveled fast, 5 miles per hour if I had to guess but the stamina required for this journey on foot was inhuman and I didn't stop for breaks.

"You are some type of alien, I swear. "Grimes shook his head at me and looked into the foreboding city. The outbound lane was packed bumper to bumper with cars that had been burned, flipped or just plain trashed. The inbound lane was empty and clean. Nice even.

"Ready to find your kid and wife? I started walking casually toward the city.

"Yeah." He urged the horse to start walking and the horse grudgingly obliged.

"Listen Rick. This isn't your small town out in the country. If even half the population was turned, that would be a fuck load of zombies. Understand?" I stated calmly.

"Trying to get me to back down?" Rick asked.

"Nah. I'm just trying to keep you alive by giving you the facts. The fact is there has been no military presence, no air traffic, no sounds of fighting or gun fire, and no sounds of animals. Just prepare for the worse man." I looked back and saw the grim frown on his face.

"If I say so I want you to take the horse and run out of the city. I'll be fine and will probably beat you out of there anyway. You can't get surrounded in there."

"What about you? Aren't you afraid? Won't you die?"

"Psh. As if. I've fought strung out raiders with more of a chance of killing me than these walkers. Trust me rick. If I ever have to pull out the big guns then you'll know we're in trouble. With that we continued to walk into the desolate city.

-30 minutes later-

"And that makes 47." I fired another round into a walkers skull just to make sure it was dead. Things had gone to shit relatively quickly.

A walker hiding under a car had grabbed the horse and bit into its leg. To make a long story short, noise, walkers came because of noise and me shooting walkers off the tank I had come to like. Rick had killed a few with a trench shovel and his python. But I quickly shoved him into the tank. Honestly this was good practice. Despite being surrounded on four sides by what could only be called a swarm of walkers I was having a good time. My **Perforator** was working like the machines that had put it together had intended. Namely it was putting dime sized holes into the skull of any walker that was in its scope.

"Wanderer!" A muffled voice inside the tank yelled. I opened the hatch as I shot another walker in the face.  
"What's up?" I aimed and fired again.

"There's a kid on the radio that thinks he can get us out of here." Rick said rapidly.

"What's the plan? I grabbed a walker by its head and slammed it against the tank effectively smashing the skull to bits.

"If you can clear a path to the east there's an alley that's gated the kid is waiting for us there and we can get to the roof tops from the fire escape. Behind you!" Rick pointed over my shoulder as a walker grabbed me at my helmet. The metal proved too tough for the walkers teeth and I head butted him sending him flying into the mob of walkers below.

"Well time for a medium sized gun. Get ready to move. I flipped through my pip-boy and pulled out a weapon a rarely used.

I grabbed with both hands a flamer called "**Slo-burn**". I pulled it out of the dead hands of its previous owner after it had burned a part of my back. With barely a delay I pulled the trigger and unleashed hell. The walkers in the front row were ash before they even knew it. Quickly I jumped off the tank and began clearing the path, Rick right behind me. We reached the alley in no time and I almost lit up an Asian kid who was standing wide eyed behind a chain linked gate. "Gonna open up kid or what? I sent a gout of flame at nearby walkers setting them on fire even as they continued to reach for us. The kid opened the gate and I pushed rick inside. A flaming hand grabbed onto me but I simply shrugged it off and closed the gate behind me. Rick and the Asian kid was climbing up a fire escape. I quickly replaced the **Slo-burn** with a 10 mm pistol and quickly climbed after them. When I got up to the roof both were breathing heavily.

"Nice moves there Clint Eastwood. What are you the new sheriff riding into town?" The Asian teen said.

"It wasn't my intention." Rick said.

"Whatever. You're still a dumb ass." Was the sharp retort as the Asian kid finally caught his breath.

"Who are you supposed to be? The terminator or something?" He gestured toward me.

"Something. You can call me wanderer. This here is rick. Thanks for saving him." I held out my hand and he shook it. "Glenn. You're welcome. Wait...save him. What about you? You're not afraid to die?"

"Ha. If only that were true. No. I knew I was going to make it. But my friend here who insists on wearing clothes that he is comfortable in would have probably died if you hadn't been there for him. Thanks. I owe you one." Glenn nodded in affirmation.

"Oh crap." Glenn pointed to a lone zombie struggling to climb the ladder. We all looked up.

"Well on the bright side it'll be the fall that kills us. I'm a glass half full kind of guy." He grinned before he started climbing. Rick followed him and then me. As soon as we reached the rooftop we paused to rest. I pulled out three bottle waters from my rift which shocked Glenn but didn't scare him. And we all drank the water before we continued. The silence between the three of us was uncomfortable.

"Are you the one that barricaded the alley? Rick asked as we crossed over a makeshift bridge between two buildings.

"No. Someone else did. I guess that someone thought that by doing that less geeks would get through." We stopped as Glenn opened a hatch.

"Back at the tank why'd you stick your neck out for me?" Rick asked.

"Call it foolish naive hope that when I'm that far up shit creek someone might do the same for me. Guess that makes me a bigger dumb ass than you." Glenn stated as he went down the ladder.

Rick then I shortly followed, Glenn quickly guided us out of the building to another fire escape. As we continued down he pulled a walkie talkie out of his bag and turned it on.

"I'm back with some guest. Four geeks in the alley." We came to a stop at the foot of the stairs where two walkers had stopped. I quickly pulled my silenced 10mm out and with practiced eased killed them. At that moment a door on the opposite side of us opened and two pad protected men gestured at us to come over. Rick and Glenn rushed to the door way but I causally walked over picking off the last two walkers in the alley way. Fuck them.  
I walked in to see a blonde putting a gun to Ricks head. I lazily pushed the barrel of my own gun against the back of her own head.

"Let him go." The blonde stiffened a bit before pulling the gun away.

"Thank you. I wouldn't swing that bat. One of the padded figures stopped just as he was about to bring the bat down on my armored suit. I pulled my gun away and holstered it.

"Sorry about the unpleasantness. Let's all calm down and relax." I took in the situation. Three men including Glenn and two woman. One was a victim the other was trying not to be one.

"You assholes called the entire city down on us. We're all dead because of you two." The blonde said, more fear than anger was in her voice. I shrugged.

"Nothing we can do about it now. Let's just survive."

"Yeah well who the hell are you supposed to be in that tin can?" One of the padded figures removed his helmet revealing a man of African American heritage.

"Doesn't matter I suppose. Just helping out this guy find his wife and kid. Nothing crazy. Now will you give us a tour or not?"

"Glenn are they cool?" This time the other padded man asked a Latino accent in his voice.  
"Yeah, they're cool." Glenn confirmed.

"Alright let's go." The Latino now without the padded armor started waking.

"Listen, we came into the city scouting for supplies. You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving. You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out. Tip toeing. Not shooting up the street like the o.k corral." Finally we emerged into natural sunlight and in front of two sets of glass doors displaying walkers.

"Every geek from miles around heard those shots." Said the black man.  
"You just rang the dinner bell." The blonde said grimly.

The silence was penetrated by the sound of rock against glass. I watched in curiosity as a walker waved a piece of cement into the glass doors.

"T-dog can you get anyone on the radio?" The black man quickly turned on the radio in his hands before frowning deeply.

"Are you contacting the refugee center?" Rick asked hope in his voice.

"Yeah cause they have cookies waiting for us." Whispered the other woman.

"No signal...maybe the roof." T-dog exclaimed.

Suddenly a gun shot went off and everyone but me ran up to the roof.  
Whatever it was I figured they could handle it. Now if those walkers manage to break through the glass on both doors and nobody is down here then everyone is screwed. I flipped through my pipboy and opened the rift. I quickly pulled out the **Terrible Shotgun** as well as ten drums of ammo. I automatically hung it across my back. I pulled out another souvenir from the Pitt, **Wild Bills Side Arm** and tucked it onto a magnetic holster on the opposite side of my hip. I also dragged out **jingwei's energy sword**. And lastly re-equipped the perforator and held it at the ready in front of me.  
After a series of shouting and what I assumed was a fight the group came back down minus T-Dog.

"T-Dog alright?" I asked.

"Yeah. Just a little beat up. One of their group went a little...off track." Rick said.

"Does he need straightening out?" I raised my rifle at the staircase.

"Nah. I straightened him out. He's handcuff upstairs." Rick turned and looked at the doors.

"Hey...where'd you get those weapons from? In fact where'd you get that armor?" The blonde asked suddenly wary and reaching for her pistol and I felt the others suddenly grow cautious of me.

"Doesn't matter what I'm wearing or what weapons I got. As long as they're not pointed at you and as long as you don't give me a reason too we're good. I'll keep this group safe." I could see their shoulders lose tension but doubt still lingered.

"He's good. He saved me when I first woke up." Rick said vouching for me. Obviously what had happened upstairs had given him some sort of credit with them as they finally began to trust me.

"Alright, Glenn show us where these tunnels are." The group moved as one leaving only rick and I in the room.

"You should go too. They might need you and it seems like they've nominated you to be leader."  
"Leader? I'm no leader." Rick shook his head as if to dissuade me.

"Listen rick. The Mexican and the blonde are scared out of their minds, from what I gather so is that other chick and T-Dogs not in a position to lead. Glenn seems to be the most level headed but he's too inexperienced. I have no interest in it. Rick, nobody asks to be a leader. You just are. I got this, go see if they need help." Rick just looked at me for a second before going down the hall. Another crack echoed through the silence. The walker had hit the glass again with the cement.

"You'll be the first one I take down."

-ten minutes later-

Rick and the now named Andrea walked back and told me about the plan. After a few quick apologies, none of which I gave, the two began to talk about the current situation. I learned the other members of the group's name were and continued my watch. Mostly about how to take the safety off a hand gun. Which I chuckled at and Andrea glared at me for. Shortly afterward Andrea looked around a little with rick while I stared at the doors. I paid no more attention to their conversation which was a good thing as a sharp crash echoed and the walkers stepped into our last set of glass doors. Andrea and Rick ran up beside me but I quickly gestured not to fire.

"It'll only weaken the glass." They both nodded and brought down their pistols. I turned sharply and watched as the Mexican, Morales and the black woman Jacqui, and Glenn rushed into the room.

"What'd you find down there?" Rick asked.

"Not a way out." Morales panted.

"We need to find a way." Andrea stated.

"Go upstairs and see if you can find a path rick. You guys go with him. I'll make sure this place remains secure." The group looked at me then at rick. Rick sighed and went to the roof and the group followed.

"Told ya. Leader." I checked my weapons one more time.

After a few minutes they came back down told me the plan and left. Hopefully walker scent will keep them safe. I laughed a little knowing what it meant and I let them get to it. No need to distract them after all dismemberment is tough for the first timers.

-20 minutes later-

As soon as the sound of thunder crashed I knew the plan was going to go to shit. Then the sound of gunshots echoed through the streets.

"Rick I hope you're as smart as I give you credit for." The noise and the smell of meat made the walkers more violent and they crushed harder against the doors.

It didn't take long for me to feel vindicated as the sound of an alarm rushed past the department store and shortly afterward the rest of the groups poured down the stairs.

"Where's T-dog?" I asked not taking my eyes away from the doors.

"He's still up there getting Dixon out of the handcuffs. We gotta go man, the walkers are going crazy!" The group ran for the wall size doors for loading. Thirty seconds later T-Dog rushed down shame on his face. I grabbed him before he could skirt around me.

"Where's Dixon?" I asked sharply.

"I d,d,dropped the key. He's still up there! There was nothing I could do man." Finally after hours of abuse the doors shattered and the walkers poured in.

"Get to the others I got Dixon." The walker that held the cement piece shambles toward me and as promised I dropped him and gave T-Dog the opportunity to run to the loading bays.

_1...2...3...4..._

-with the rest of the survivors-

"I'm in!" Morales screamed as Rick drove off.

The survivors sat silent breathing heavily as they wondered how they survived. Morales carefully walked to the front and sat in the passenger seat. Rick took a second to look back.

"Where's wanderer and Dixon?!" Rick yelled over the engine.

"I dropped the damn key...the wanderer went to get him...they're probably already dead..."T-Dog dropped his head in shame.

"Fuck!" Rick slammed his hand against the steering wheel.

"Where's Glenn?" Andrea shouted.

"He's got a ride." Rick said a touch of sadness left in his voice as they drove out of the city limits.

-back at the department store-

_157...158...159...where's the rest?_

The wanderer ceased fire. Although he could still hear the moans and growling of the walkers, he had made an artificial wall, created by corpses which completely blocked off the stair case he had been defending.

"Well let's go check on Mr. Dixon." I turned around and began walking up the steps until I came to a chain locked down.

At least T-Dog had tried to protect. Maybe he meant to come back. Nice guy despite getting his ass kicked. I ripped the chain apart and opened the door leading to the roof. I quickly scanned the roof too and saw a spilled bag of tools. I walked slowly over to the bag and stopped as I saw a pool of blood and a hand belonging to a white male. No sign of the white male though.

"He's probably dead." I said aloud.

I scavenged the tool bag and put it into the rift. I watched as the rain moved on and I sighed.  
I wonder if rick and the group made it out. After a few seconds I selected a standard ripper out of my rift and revved it up. Time to get bloody. I walked back into the stairwell and began working on my disguise.

-50 miles out of town-

I followed Glenn in the red mustang trusting him to lead us to where we need to go. The group was silent, resting from their ordeal. We eventually got onto a dirt path that lead up into the hills. Eventually I had to slow the truck down as the incline got to steep. I lost Glenn but the sound of the alarm going off was still echoing so I knew he was fine.

"Our camp is just up ahead." Morales said and almost to confirm that the mustangs alarm system shut off. I pulled up to the camp site which contained a few tents, the mustang and an r.v. Finally I felt the fatigue of the day hit me and I rested my head on the steering wheel. Morales clamped a hand down on my shoulder reassuringly knowing what I was thinking about.

"Let's introduce you to the camp." Morales got out and I watched as he embraced his kids and wife. Andrea was hugging her sister and the rest of the survivors were hugged and shook hands. Still I couldn't stop myself from thinking about Wanderer and Meryl. I'd left them. Fuck I left them. I quickly took a deep breath to compose myself before I stepped out of the truck. The sun blinded me slightly and I had to look down but when I looked up the whole camp had quieted down and suddenly my heart stopped.

"Shane?..." I looked around quickly and saw Carl and Lori.

"Oh my god..." I felt the world drop from beneath me.

"Dad!" I ran to meet him and swept him into my arms. Suddenly my legs couldn't take the weight and I crumpled over my boy and held him close. Lori ran over and I pulled her close to and despite my melancholy I focused solely on my family.

-49 miles out of Atlanta and three hours later-

I'm glad I'm not here to kill these people. They leave tracks a N.C.R recruit could track. I was just on the outskirts of their camp and closing in when I heard voices, one stood out as Rick's.

"I never would have made it if the wanderer hadn't saved me in that hospital. I was wounded, half-starved and dehydrated..."a trace of pain could be found as he took a second to compose himself.

"I'm sure you did the best you could dad." A young voice stated. Probably his son I thought.

"Why do you call him wanderer?" Asked Andrea.  
I chose this time to appear and stepped out of the bushes silently.

"Because that's my name." The metallic tinge from the helmet made my voice sound eerily and I guess the zombie guts on me didn't help either and I guess that's what caused the man with the shotgun to shoot me. I thanked my armor again for its durability as the buck shot ricocheted off me. The force pushed me back a foot. The entire camp of survivors stood on their feet with weapons in hand. I calmly grabbed my .32 and activated my V.A.T.S system.

"Rick! You there?"

Rick pushed through the crowd and stood arms wide open for them more than for me. "Wanderer! I can't believe you made it out. Everybody stop! This is the guy I was telling you about. Lower your guns." Rick said in a pleading tone. The group did so slowly.

"Good. I was about to kill them all and be done with it." The group raised their fire arms and a variety of blunt weapons again.

"Lower your weapons." The tone in ricks voice left no other course of action so the camp lowered their weapons and in return I did. I holstered my .32. I clicked a few buttons on my pip-boy and felt the clasps unhook. I reached up and took off the helmet I had been wearing for two days and took a deep breath of smoke, burnt food and the smell of people.

"What are you 15? Just a fucking kid" Said an overweight man sitting next to fire. I narrowed my eyes and immediately disliked this man.

"Talk to me like that again and I'll cut your eyeballs out of their sockets meat bag." I pulled out a knife to emphasis my point.

"He didn't mean anything by it." Rick said as he approached. I looked at the man again who looked nonplussed at my threat and back at rick. I put my knife away and held out my hand.

"I'm glad to see you guys made it." I nodded in response.

"Come on we got a place by the fire for you." Rick led me to the camp fire and I sat down and the rest of the camp began to relax and fall into a rhythm again.

"What's with the armor? Where'd you get it?" Another blonde, Amy I believe from Andreas description.

"Keeps me safe duh." Everyone chuckled a little with only Amy glaring at me. I decided to humor her.

"Sorry. This armor was made by a very special person of mine." There was a brief pause and an uncomfortable silence filled out circle.

"Hey Rick, got any food?" I asked as I took a spare rag from one of my suit pouches and began cleaning off my helmet.

"No. Sorry, no extra food." Rick said grimly as he remembered the veritable feast the camp had. It wasn't much, just a few fruits, vegetables, and some meat. But a meal was a meal and ricks stomach growled for more.

"That's fine. It's a great thing I am prepared." Everyone watched as I walked back to the bushes and came back with a military crate, something I salvaged from an abandoned military post just before I left the city and jogged the way back with it on my shoulders, hey a guy needs a workout routine. I quickly pulled it down in front of the camp fire. Humming happily I opened the case and pulled out an M.R.E and tossed it to a surprised Carl.

"People need to eat." I smiled and tossed M.R.E's at the rest of the silent group who each numbly caught it.

I caught a few thank you's mixed with a variety of emotions. Shame predominated it. After all a stranger out of nowhere had just given out perhaps all the food he had, to help without asking for anything in return. Nevertheless everyone ate in silence. After a satisfying meal the group silently dispersed until only Shane, rick and I sat around the fire.

"That was a nice thing to do. Thank you wanderer. And, uh, sorry about shooting you back there. That armor is really something." Shane said respectfully.

"No problem. If we're going to survive this we need to stick together." I nodded slightly.

"Well boys...as much as I like to sit and talk, I have a wife to get to." Rick grin and stood up before stretching. He walked past Shane and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you Shane...for keeping them safe when I couldn't." Rick squeezed Shane shoulder slightly in comradely.

"Hey it's no problem brother." They both nodded at each other and Rick walked to Lori's tent.

I observed Shane and notice the look in his eye as Rick entered Lori's tent. It was the look of a man who lost his standing in the group. The look of a man who lost his woman. The look of someone hands down beaten.

"You know it's not polite to fuck your friend's wife." I stated.

"Hey! I thought-" Shane paused and glared at me for a second before sighing and continuing in a softer tone.

"How did you know?" He looked down guilt flooding his face.

"It's in the eyes. You watch Lori too intensely and flinch every time Rick puts his arm around her. Nobody else notices and I'm not going to tell. What would that serve?" I shrugged and grabbed my helmet and firmly placed it over my head.

"You're not going to tell Rick?" Shane whispered.

"Did you really think he was dead?" I pulled my 10mm out and began disassembling it.  
"...yeah. I really did." Shane mumbled.

"That's all I need to know. Go to bed. I got first shift. I'll get you in four hours. Plus sleep helps with emotional strain." I finished as I began assembling the 10mm.

Wordlessly Shane went into his tent on the opposite side of camp. I sighed and pulled the trigger producing a dry click.  
I looked away from the fire and into the darkness. Like always I felt something was staring back at me. I turned back to the fire and thought about the last few days before I came to this world. For the first time in a really long time I cried. I let it out knowing no one could hear me. I let my sorrow burn hot and loud inside my armor and finally after what felt like forever my alarm beeped telling me to wake up Shane. I composed myself easily. Woke him up and finally went to bed.

Even as I laid down I felt rage roll around in my chest. I should have done more, been faster, smarter. Something. Still it didn't change the fact that my world was gone and my wife dead. I could feel the ice creep into my veins and calm pour into me. I gathered the emotions that had swept me up and locked them deep into my heart.  
When I think about the world I was in now I grinned. A useful place to vent my emotions. I closed my eyes again and this time I finally slept.

* * *

**Well that's the end of this chapter. I'm sorry to that it took so long to get it out but with school and work I've been crushed under the pressure. Still glad to see that I'm keeping up with this story. Also I changed the formatting around so there was much more space between each paragraph and dialogue. I hope that helped to make the chapter easier to read. I know if things stay to close for a long time they strain my eyes. Oh, also sorry about November 5,2014 for the false update. This is the chapter that was supposed to be posted but I because everything looked weird I had to reformat it. Any way I look forward to your reviews and any advice you feel you should give.  
**


	4. It's all over folks

I regret to inform you guys that I will be deleting all my stories including the newer ones. I cannot in good faith continue writing these because they hold no interest to me. I shouldn't say that. It's not that I have no interest it is that I've been trying to define my writing style for years and I've decided that what I was writing and how I felt when I write has changed. Because of this I cannot continue my other stories. So instead of giving you all half baked plots and stupid characters I will take this time to develop what I really want to write and then put my stories out. One more I am sorry to my fans and the people who enjoy reading my stories. Hopefully when I put out the next generation you all will continue reading them. Thank you all for the support.


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